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The Oceanaire - Seafood

My fiancé, Josh, wanted to take me to a nice dinner for my birthday, and after asking around for advice on a great Washington restaurant, he was overwhelmed with the number of people who recommended The Oceanaire. After arriving, we quickly realized that his friends had recommended a wonderful place. Our waiter informed us that many of the meals were swimming in the ocean that morning (I felt a little guilty after hearing this bit of information, but I have to admit that everything was very fresh).

My one piece of advice to those who know that they will be visiting this restaurant is not to snack at all! While everything is a la carte, the side dishes are large enough to be shared, with leftovers.

The restaurant is large and the tables are close together, but the ambience is nice and appropriate for either a date or a group. We sat in the back room, an area with 8 tables, where approximately half were groups of 6 or more and half were on dates like us. This did not detract from our conversation, and it actually was a great way to see all of the various entrees available at Oceanaire.

Crabcakes at The Oceanaire
Crabcakes at The Oceanaire

I have to admit that I am not a "fish person," but I do love crab cakes. When our waiter told us that theirs are the best in town I figured I would give it a try. They were delicious, with just enough seasoning to hold it together, but not overwhelming so you can't taste the crab.

Swordfish at The Oceanaire
Swordfish at The Oceanaire

Josh ordered the swordfish, and was pleased with both the size of the cut and the taste. For our sides, we ordered the asparagus with a hollandaise sauce and the red potatoes.

Asparagus and whole red potatoe sides at The Oceanaire
Asparagus and whole red potatoe sides at The Oceanaire

We were lucky that we were warned about the size of the sides, because there were at least 25 stalks of asparagus and 15 whole red potatoes. The asparagus was perfect, and we found ourselves dipping everything into that hollandaise sauce! The red potatoes were plain but delicious, seasoned with rosemary and other spices.

I can't forget the bread, which is how I often judge a restaurant. This sourdough was thick and tasty, not too much of a "sourdough" taste, which is what I prefer. It was crunchy on the outside but warm and soft in the middle.

We did not save enough room for dessert, even though it was a birthday dinner (those darn asparagus were just too good!). The tables on either side of us, however, ordered the baked Alaska, where the presentation is half of the appeal. It is a huge brownie, covered in ice cream, covered in marshmallows. The waiter lights alcohol on fire, pours it over the concoction, pauses as the smell of roasting marshmallows floats to all of the surrounding tables, then cuts the dessert into quarters and serves everyone, all while it is still on fire!

The wine list at Oceanaire is extensive, with bottles ranging from the upper twenties to the upper hundreds.

I have to comment on the bathrooms as well; they are very modern and even have a little pump with mouthwash in it. Josh tells me that the men’s room even has aftershave -- I love when restaurants throw the little extra surprises at you!

There are only three options that are non-fish items, on the menu in very small print at the bottom of the page. I am sure that they are delicious but if you are looking for non-fishy food I don’t think this is the place for you.

If you are thinking of bringing children, I probably would have advised against it, until I saw a couple with a child come sit next to us. I wondered what he would order, but when I saw the French fries come on a huge platter, I realized that while the portions are huge, the food is good and will keep any customer happy, big or small.

In the end, Oceanaire gets two thumbs up from me. I may even try a fancier fish next time, although those crab cakes were just so good…

The Oceanaire ... web site, 1201 F Street NW, 202-347-2277 [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | Economist | Don Rockwell | Gayot]

Post by Amy

February 28, 2006 09:47 AM   Link    Dining    Comments (1)    TrackBacks (2)

"Anagram map of Metrorail"


Anagram map of Metrorail from genecowan

Anagram map of Metrorail from genecowan

Can’t stop myself. Here’s my anagram map of Metrorail, Washington’s subway. Wherever possible, I tried to tailor the anagrams to the specific place or a general Washington, DC sort of commentary. For example, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport becomes “Ghost Nonagenarian Drawl, Irrational to Nap.”

"Anagram map of Metrorail," genecowan, February 23, 2006

February 25, 2006 09:17 AM   Link    Living in DC    Comments (0)

This Week in DC Reviews - February 24, 2006

Periodically, we will publish This Week in DC Reviews, a roundup of reviews of DC-area restaurants, with quick links to DC-area restaurant reviews and mentions from the previous seven days in blogs, magazines, and newspapers.

For a roundup of New York City restaurant reviews from NYC food bloggers and media, see This Week in NYC Reviews at A Guy In New York.

Did we miss your favorite DC restaurant review?

Let us know: hobnobblog -at- gmail.com ... we're especially interested in hearing from DC bloggers ...

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February 24, 2006 09:07 AM   Link    Dining    Comments (1)    TrackBacks (1)

Tempt Asian Restaurant - Chinese

After reading all the favorable reviews of Tempt Asian, we gave it a try ... ordered the won ton soup, beef chow fun, ma pao tofu, and Chinese brocoli in oyster sauce... these are all standard dishes that a good Sichuan restaurant should be able to easily do well ... sad to report that all were mediocre at best ... the best dish was the beef chow fun, and that did not have the smoky taste that a good "wet" chow fun (chow fun with gravy) should have ... the ma pao tofu was the greasiest we have ever had (the best we have had was at Wu Liang Ye in NYC) ... and the Chinese brocoli with oyster sauce was mostly large stalks ...

Full Key is better...

Tempt Asian: 6259 Little River Turnpike (just west of I-395), Alexandria, VA, 703-750-6801 [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | Don Rockwell]

February 23, 2006 09:24 PM   Link    Dining    Comments (1)    TrackBacks (1)

Washington DC's Metro

Zachary Schrag, who produced the online exhibit, "Building the Washington Metro," has written a new book, "The Great Society Subway," to be published next month.

Metroblogging DC has an interview with Prof. Schrag.

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February 20, 2006 08:37 AM   Link    Living in DC    Comments (0)    TrackBacks (1)

This Week in DC Reviews - February 17, 2006

Periodically, we will publish This Week in DC Reviews, a roundup of reviews of DC-area restaurants, with quick links to DC-area restaurant reviews and mentions from the previous seven days in blogs, magazines, and newspapers.

For a roundup of New York City restaurant reviews from NYC food bloggers and media, see This Week in NYC Reviews at A Guy In New York.

Did we miss your favorite DC restaurant review?

Let us know: hobnobblog -at- gmail.com ... we're especially interested in hearing from DC bloggers ...

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February 17, 2006 09:17 AM   Link    Dining    Comments (0)    TrackBacks (4)

More on Earmarks

We have updated our Federal Budget Links and Research Tools (scroll down) with links to selected CRS Reports, legislation and articles on earmarks.

CRS Reports on Earmarks

Legislation

Articles

February 16, 2006 10:46 AM   Link    Earmarks ~   Legislative Process    Comments (0)

Pundit Whodunit - Arena Stage

The Pundit Whodunit: The Case of the Political Puzzle

The Pundit Whodunit: The Case of the Political Puzzle

One-night-only performance of the original crime-solving caper, "The Pundit Whodunit: The Case of the Political Puzzle" in the Kreeger Theater featuring a cast filled with Members of Congress, District officials, and media celebrities.

Proceeds support Arena’s education and audience enrichment activities, which educate, excite and enrich the lives of more than 20,000 area young people annually.

March 6, 2006


The 14th Annual Arena Stage Benefit for Community Engagement. Individual Tickets available from $200. For information on tickets, call 202-554-9066, ext. 266 or email events@arenastage.org.

February 15, 2006 08:57 AM   Link    Living in DC    Comments (0)

"First Hill Hearing To Be 'Live-Blogged'"

The rise of blogs within Washington made this breaking news inevitable: A House subcommittee for the first time will make room for citizen journalists to "live-blog" a congressional hearing.

The International Relations Subcommittee on Global Human Rights, Africa and International Operations will hold the hearing Wednesday at 10 a.m., and the topic is most appropriate. The panel will examine the role that U.S. companies like Google and Yahoo play in filtering Internet content in countries like China.

"First Hill Hearing To Be 'Live-Blogged'," Beltway Blogroll, February 13, 2006

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Congressional Directory 2006
Congressional Directory 2006


February 14, 2006 12:07 AM   Link    Congress ~   Fourth Estate ~   Technology    Comments (0)

People and Animals - photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a French photographer, has taken some fascinating pictures of people and animals ...

Whitemine Vampire, accompanied by Laura Morris
PIMPERNEL SIMMENTAL BULL
Whitemine Vampire; accompanied by Laura Morris; owned by Bernard E. Kenney of Leicestershire, England (Royal Show, England)

He has also posted numerous portraints of people of different occupations ...

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February 12, 2006 04:11 PM   Link    Photography    Comments (0)

This Week in DC Reviews - February 10, 2006

Periodically, we will publish This Week in DC Reviews, a roundup of reviews of DC-area restaurants, with quick links to DC-area restaurant reviews and mentions from the previous seven days in blogs, magazines, and newspapers.

For a roundup of New York City restaurant reviews from NYC food bloggers and media, see This Week in NYC Reviews at A Guy In New York.

Did we miss your favorite DC restaurant review?

Let us know: hobnobblog -at- gmail.com ... we're especially interested in hearing from DC bloggers ...

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February 10, 2006 11:27 AM   Link    Dining    Comments (0)    TrackBacks (1)

The President's Budget, FY 2007

The President's proposed budget for FY 2007 was released this morning.

"Budget of the United States Government: Fiscal Year 2007," from OMB

"Fact Sheet: Highlights of the President's FY2007 Budget," from The White House

Budget of the United States Government: Fiscal Year 2007, from GPO Access

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The President's Budget and the Budget Process We offer a 1-day course, "The President's Budget and the Budget Process," to be held February 22, 2006.

February 6, 2006 03:17 PM   Link    Budget    Comments (1)

Whopperettes

Seth Stevenson says SuperBowl ads "have gotten progressively worse" and that the Burger King "Whopperettes" ad "was the only ad all night that was outsized and garish enough to be Super Bowl-worthy. Thus, I approve. I'm still not sold on BK's mascot, though. 'The King' is a silent, frightening weirdo, whom even the Whopperettes refer to as 'freaky.' No doubt he appeals to Burger King's core demo of 18- to 25-year-old men. But I get the sense that he repulses everybody else." ... we agree, he is a weirdo ...

Whopperettes ad is here

February 6, 2006 01:14 PM   Link    Humor    Comments (0)

Freedom of Expression

The great British philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote in On Liberty, "Strange it is, that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free discussion, but object to their being 'pushed to an extreme'; not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good for any case."

The cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten raise the most important question of our times: freedom of expression. Are we in the west going to cave into pressure from societies with a medieval mindset, or are we going to defend our most precious freedom -- freedom of expression, a freedom for which thousands of people sacrificed their lives?
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On the world stage, should we really apologize for Dante, Shakespeare, and Goethe? Mozart, Beethoven and Bach? Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh, Breughel, Ter Borch? Galileo, Huygens, Copernicus, Newton and Darwin? Penicillin and computers? The Olympic Games and Football? Human rights and parliamentary democracy? The west is the source of the liberating ideas of individual liberty, political democracy, the rule of law, human rights and cultural freedom. It is the west that has raised the status of women, fought against slavery, defended freedom of enquiry, expression and conscience. No, the west needs no lectures on the superior virtue of societies who keep their women in subjection, cut off their clitorises, stone them to death for alleged adultery, throw acid on their faces, or deny the human rights of those considered to belong to lower castes.

"Democracy in a Cartoon," by Ibn Warraq, Der Spiegel, February 3, 2006

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

U.S. Constitution: First Amendment

Eugene Volokh looks at the hypocrisy of the Boston Globe in dealing with offensive religious images:

Yet where in those editorials are the admonitions about the need for "respect" of religious groups? The condemnations of the juxtaposition of bodily excretions with religious figures as "schoolboy prank[s]"? The denunciations of the art as undermining the "ultimate Enlightenment value" of "tolerance"? The condemnations of the artists, and of those NEA and museum decisionmakers who used their discretion to judge the work artistically excellent, as "obtuse"? And, of course, the suggestion thatthe works are "no less hurtful to most [Christians] than Nazi caricatures of Jews or Ku Klux Klan caricatures of blacks are to those victims of intolerance"?

Why the difference?

"The Boston Globe on Speech Offensive to Different Religious Groups," by Eugene Volokh, The Volokh Conspiracy, February 4, 2006

This reminds us of something we read a few years back; "Catholic guy: Who's the establishment here?," by Chuck Williams, guest commentary in the St. Paul Legal Ledger, October 19, 1999:

The appropriate answer to would-be censors is to say, "if you don't like it, don't look at it." Or just don't read it, or just don't listen to it. The reason that retort doesn't work here is that the Catholic guy isn't complaining that anybody's forcing Catholics to look at Dung on the Virgin. He's complaining that Catholics are being forced to pay for it. He's saying, go ahead and Dung on the Virgin anywhere you like. Just do it on your own dime, or on your fellow Catholic-bashers' dime. Just don't do it on the taxpayers' dime.

But to the wine and cheese crowd on the museum board, them are fighting words. OK, I admit I don't understand that reaction. But I'd still just shrug my shoulders if the board didn't go on to add farce to insult by assuming the ridiculous pose of a courageous little community being set upon by the heavy hand of the establishment.

That's just too silly to go unremarked. Because it's as clear as a jar of pee that it's the Catholic guy who's being stomped and insulted here - and by people who make more money in a day than he does in a week. The museum board members are wealthy, powerful, socially and politically connected, and like lots of this country, and certainly much of the media, not too fond of the Catholic Church. They're the establishment, if anyone is, not the Catholic Church, with whatever pitiful, tenuous hold it may still have on 1999 American culture.

I mean, like another friend of mine once said, if you want to be counterculture, be a Catholic.

So here's what I'm saying. Picture the wine and cheese crowd gathering at some Brooklyn Museum of Art benefit. Then quick cut to somebody, anybody, in 1999 New York, who still gets up early to go to church, kneel in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary and pray. Which depicts a smug and intolerant establishment?

Well, if you picked the devout Catholic on his knees before the Virgin, you're not alone. But I still don't get it.

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February 5, 2006 10:37 AM   Link    U.S. Constitution    Comments (0)

This Week in DC Reviews - February 3, 2006

Periodically, we will publish This Week in DC Reviews, a roundup of reviews of DC-area restaurants, with quick links to DC-area restaurant reviews and mentions from the previous seven days in blogs, magazines, and newspapers.

For a roundup of New York City restaurant reviews from NYC food bloggers and media, see This Week in NYC Reviews at A Guy In New York.

Did we miss your favorite DC restaurant review?

Let us know: hobnobblog -at- gmail.com ... we're especially interested in hearing from DC bloggers ...

. . . . . . . . .


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February 3, 2006 11:27 AM   Link    Dining    Comments (0)    TrackBacks (4)

Earmarks

Last week, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Tom Coburn sent this "Dear Colleague" letter

DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER FROM SENATORS COBURN AND MCCAIN ON EARMARKS
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, Jan 25, 2006

Dear Colleague:

As you know, the American people are currently engaged in a vigorous debate about our country’s spending priorities. Many are openly discussing the propriety of earmarks and legislative policy provisions inserted into appropriations bills at the direction of individual lawmakers. We believe that the process of earmarking undermines the confidence of the American public in Congress because the practice is not open, fair, or competitive and tends to reward the politically well-connected.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the number of earmarks has skyrocketed over the past decade, from 4,126 in 1994 to 15,268 in 2005. We are committed to doing all we can to halt this egregious earmarking practice and plan to challenge future legislative earmarks that come to the Senate floor. This will give all Senators the opportunity to learn the merits of proposed earmarked projects and affirm or reject them. Even though votes on earmarks will undoubtedly be quite time-consuming, we sincerely believe that American taxpayers are entitled to a more thorough debate and disclosure about how their money is being spent.

We also believe that it is wrong to violate Senate Rules by inserting new provisions that are not included in either a Senate or House bill into conference reports at the last minute. The unsavory practice of inserting such provisions at the last minute stifles debate and empowers well-heeled lobbyists at the expense of those who cannot afford access to power. Decisions about how taxpayer dollars are spent should not be made in the dark, behind closed doors. Therefore, we also plan to challenge future violations of Senate Rules, and, as necessary, we will offer proposals to strengthen current Senate Rules in order to increase transparency and accountability in the expenditure of taxpayer dollars.

While we know that this course of action may not be popular in Washington, D.C., we believe that it is the right thing to do. We look forward to working with you over the next year, and we hope that you will join us in a spirited debate about the direction of our country.

Sincerely,


Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. Senator John McCain

And here is Kim Strassel's take:

Mr. McCain and House Republican Jeff Flake have already introduced a bill that would require more "sunshine" in the earmarking process, obliging Congress to produce a list of every earmark in the text of legislation. If these attempts fail, the senators from Arizona and Oklahoma say they will pursue their ends by other means. For instance, one concern is that porkers will seek to bypass any increased legislative scrutiny by inserting earmarks directly into Senate-House conference reports at the last minute. If this happens, the duo say they will challenge such earmarks as violations of Senate rules and insist that House-Senate conference procedures be updated to allow greater transparency.

"Who You Gonna Call?" by Kim Strassel, OpinionJournals' Political Diary, February 1, 2006

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February 2, 2006 06:07 AM   Link    Legislative Process    Comments (0)    TrackBacks (1)

How NOT to use the Internet

The staff of U.S. Rep Marty Meehan wiped out references to his broken term-limits pledge as well as information about his huge campaign war chest in an independent biography of the Lowell Democrat on a Web site that bills itself as the "world's largest encyclopedia," The Sun has learned.

The Meehan alterations on Wikipedia.com represent just two of more than 1,000 changes made by congressional staffers at the U.S. House of Representatives in the past six month.

"Rewriting history under the dome: Online 'encyclopedia' allows anyone to edit entries, and congressional staffers do just that to bosses' bios," by Evan Lehmann, The Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, January 27, 2006

Wikipedia relies on its readers to create, expand and correct its one million entries on a variety of subjects, but the site's managers also keep track of the Internet addresses of those who make changes.
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It has often been said that Congress acts like a bunch of high school students with a trillion-dollar budget. Now it appears that it also employs some staffers who haven't gotten over the locker-room prank phase of their adolescence.

"Congress Is an Internet Virus," by John Fund, OpinionJournal, January 31, 2006

And kids, don't do it from home, either.

If you want to learn about some of the proper and effective uses of the Internet ...

Media Relations Handbook for Agencies, Associations, Nonprofits and Congress, by Brad Fitch
Media Relations Handbook for Agencies, Associations, Nonprofits and Congress, by Brad Fitch


February 1, 2006 06:27 AM   Link    Technology    Comments (0)